Polish President Andrzej Duda is visiting Egypt to meet with his counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the hope of finding a way to export grain from Ukraine amid Russia’s blockade. Fears of worldwide food shortages have been growing, with Egypt particularly exposed to them.
After his arrival yesterday, Duda announced that Ukraine’s “President [Volodymyr] Zelensky asked me to raise some issues important to Ukraine in my conversations with the president of Egpyt”. A week earlier Duda visited Zelensky in Kyiv.
Prezydent @AndrzejDuda w #Kair: Prezydent @ZelenskyyUa poprosił mnie, bym poruszył w rozmowie z Prezydentem Egiptu kilka ważnych dla Ukrainy tematów.
— Kancelaria Prezydenta (@prezydentpl) May 29, 2022
Polish deputy foreign minister Paweł Jabłoński noted that the talks with Sis would be “devoted, among other things, to food security and international pressure on Russia to unblock grain exports from Ukraine”.
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of grain, including to many markets in the Middle East and Africa. Before Russia’s invasion, around 20% of Egpyt’s wheat imports were from Ukraine (with a further 60% from Russia itself).
However, with Russia blockading Ukrainian ports and sanctions making trade with Russia more difficult, grain exports from both countries have suffered. That has led to rising prices and fears of global food shortages.
"There will be famine, there will be a catastrophe."
Ukrainian President Zelensky warned of famine and a hunger “catastrophe,” as he accused Russia of blocking grain exports from his war-torn country. https://t.co/XF4wmmhZBx
— Yahoo (@Yahoo) May 29, 2022
Poland, which has been one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters, has been seeking to facilitate Ukrainian grain exports, including by train through Poland. Last week Egypt’s trade minister, Ali Moselhi, revealed that Egypt had contracted four cargoes of wheat through this route, reported Al-Monitor.
However, Polish ports have limited capacity for dealing with Ukrainian grain exports, and international efforts are underway to find a way to allow exports to resume through Ukrainian ports.
Vladimir Putin told Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz in a call on Saturday that he was “ready to help find options for the unhindered export of grain, including the export of Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea ports”. But he indicated that this would have to involve the removal of some sanctions on Russia.
Putin conditioned a potential reopening of 🇺🇦's grain exports on a relaxation of Western sanctions
Meanwhile, 🇫🇷President Emmanuel Macron and 🇩🇪Chancellor Olaf Scholz responded with the need for a 🇷🇺withdrawal & "serious" peace efforts from Moscow.https://t.co/LRqkbB7Mdp
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) May 28, 2022
Duda’s deputy chief of staff, Piotr Ćwik, also noted that “one of the important topics” to be discussed in Cairo would be the possibility of beginning exports of Egyptian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Poland.
For years, the Polish government has been seeking to reduce its reliance on Russian energy, including through increased LGN imports from the United States and Qatar. Those efforts were lent further urgency last month when Russia abruptly cut off its gas exports to Poland over Warsaw’s refusal to pay in roubles.
During his visit – the first by a Polish president since Lech Wałęsa in 1992 – Duda will open the Polish-Egyptian Economic Forum and also meet with the pope of the Coptic Orthodox church, Tawadros II, and the grand imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb.
Main image credit: Jakub Szymczuk/KPRP
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
